Rug tool having a turbine-driven rug brush



P 2, 1959 D. H. BRENNAN 2,904,817

RUG TOOL HAVING A TURBINE-DRIVEN RUG BRUSH Filed Feb. 24, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 [hike/7f Dan/e/ HBre/man 29/3 Wic /2% p 22, 1959 D. H. BRENNAN 2,904,817

RUG TOOL HAVING A TURBINE-DRIVEN RUG BRUSH Filed Feb. 24. 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 fnyenfor:

flan// n. Brennan Af/arngy 2,964,817 Patented Sept. 22, 1 959 RUG TOOL HAVING A- TURBINE-DRIVEN RUG BRUSH- Daniel H. Brennan, ClevelandHeights, Ohio, assignor to general Electric Company, a corporation of New ork Application February 24, 1956, Serial-No.1 567,686

Claims. (Cl. -375) The invention relates to cleaning tools generally, and to air-operated'cleaning tools particularly. My invention is well suited for use in a vacuum cleaner cleaning tool and, therefore, for the-purpose ofsimplifying anexplanationof it, will be disclosed'insuch a-device.

Contemporary vacuum cleaners fall into two general types: first, thosewhich clean partially by suction and include a'wmotor-driven brush (this feature is normally foundin so-called upright cleaners) and second, those which clean primarily by suction and do not include a motoredn'ven brush (commonly referred to as canister cleaners, .and normally eitherof the horizontaloh vertical variety). The vacuumcleanen cleaning tools. to which the invention relates are primarily those whichare used to clean rugs and floors. It-is generally agreed that the best cleaning job. on rugsis performed by cleanershavinga power-driven rug brush which .may ormay. not have other. elements such as beaters associatedwithit; The s-trongfeatures of the canistertype cleaners are that they are adapted for. convenient above thefloor cleaning, i.e., wall, furniture, drapery and ceiling cleaning. It is. believedby many skilled invthis. art that a.canister: cleaner is superior. to the upright cleaner,.alli other things being equal, in'all respects other than its ability to clean.rugs, Therefore,.it is highly desirable that an.cleaning toolattachment be devised that may. be. used with the canister typecleaner andwhich-is capable of closely approaching, ifnot duplicating,.the excellent rugcleaning, capabilities of the motor-driven rug brush of the upright type. cleaner. It is believed'obvious that the reason motor-driven brushes are not provided in' canister cleaner rug tools is because of' the difficulty of'furnishing power to the rug tool. In order tomeet. this problem, it has been suggested that the movingfluid (air), which passes through the canister cleaner rugvtoolwhen the cleaner is operatedbe utilized to drive. afluid-operated motor, which in turn drives a rug brush.. In this application the term turbine. driven rug tool? is used to signify this typeof device.

One type of turbine driven rugtool with whichthe inventor is familiaroperates on. a.split air flow principle. In this arrangement,- there is provided a rug toolbody having a nozzle which is adapted to-be associatediwith a rug, a rugbrush mounted for rotation in the nozzle and contact with the rug, a turbine chamber which houses a turbine and communicates with the atmosphere through inlet openings, the turbine. being connected to the. rug brush in mechanical driving. relationship, and an. outlet passageway which communicates with the suction unit of thev-acuum cleaner when-therugrtool-is connected to the canistercleaner wand. With this type of rugtool, when aflow of'air is induced throughath'e tool by ener gizing the-suction unitg-some air enters thenozzle through the opening' inth'enozzle, and so'me' air enters the turbine chamber through the inlet openings. The air entering the nozzle openingis dust-laden and 'i s-carriedofi' through the outlet passageway to the suction unit. The air entering the turbine chamber contacts the vanes on the turbine and rotates the latter, and thereby drives the rug brush.-

The prior art, turbine-driven rug tools operating on a split air flow principle suffer from a serious basic-effect. In the prior art devices, the relative. flow of air through the nozzle and through the turbine chamber is constant, that is non-adjustable. In practice. it was found that with such constant air flow, the rug tool did not operate effectively on various types of rugs. On some types of rugs, the nozzle would seal tightly to the rug and, therefore, require a greatdeal of effort to move the rug tool over the rug. If some sort of prior art bleeder bypass (perhaps in the vacuum cleaner wand) were incorporated into the rug tool inorder to reduce. the vacuum'at the nozzle sufliciently to enable the rug tool to-be moved easily, it was found necessary to so reduce the flow of air through the turbine chamber as to impair the turbines effectiveness. On the other types of rugs, it'was found that the prior. art rug tools would not seal and, therefore,- a considerable amount of air would flow through the nozzle resulting in less air flowing through the turbine chamber and-ineffective turbine operation.

It is an object of this invention to eliminate the above mentioned basic defect in prior art, turbine-driven rug tools of the type referredto.

The object of this invention is accomplished in one formby providing'means in a turbine-driven rug tool for regulating the relative air flow through the nozzle and turbine chamber by controlling the air'flow through the turbine chamber.

Other objects and further detailsofthatwhich I-believe to be novel and my invention'will be clear from the following decsription and claimstaken with the accompanydrawings whereins Fig; 1 is a perspectiveview of one form of my improved rug tool;

Fig. 2 isan exploded-view of the improved rug tool shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentarysectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 4'is a central, longitudinal, sectional view of the rug tool shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a centraLlOngitudinal, sectionalview of a modified rug tool, and

Fig. 6' isa fragmentary, perspective view, with por tions cutaway and? shown in section for the sake of clarity, of the rug toolshown in Fig. 5.

Referring to' Figs. 1' through'4, one embodiment of applicant s invention is disclosed. As illustrated therein, rug tool 10 generally comprises the'nozzle portion 12, the turbine-portion 14: and the outlet portion-16. The rug tool comprises a built-up body having appropriate walls: which compartment the interior thereof generally into the nozzle chamber 18, the turbine chamber 20 and the outlet chamber 22; Thesechambersare defined by the following generally horizontal, vertically spaced walls: bottom.wa1l:24-, intermediate wall 26-and top wall 28; Depending from the top wall- 28 is the side wall 30 which has a" plurality of slots 32 formed therein and a pair of oppositely extending flat rwinrgs 34' at the sides of its lower edge. At the forward end of thetop wall 28, the depending wall 3|): is omitted, thereby leaving a cutaway portion- 36:

The intermediate wall 26-can best be seen in Fig. 2, and it isgenerally flat. and hasa generally circular, central dished portion 38 formed by depending flange 39, and a pair' of oppositely extending wing portions 40; An aperturev 42is formed centrally of. the central portion 38, and at the rearwardside ofthe latter there is formed a chute-like depression44'which at its rearwardextremity defines an opening 46 within the depression and beneath a central rear portion ofthe flange 39. De-

which extends completely around the intermediate Wall between the latter and the bottom wall 24. At the rearward side of the wall 48 there is formed an opening which communicates with the interior of the tube 50, which comprises the outlet portion 16, and which defines the outlet chamber 22. Tube 50 may be coupled to a source of suction, such as a canister cleaner wand, in any conventional manner. In the forward end of the bottom wall 24 there is formed an elongated nozzle opening 52 which is adapted to be disposed adjacent to a rug.

Fig. 2 illustrates the foregoing structural elements as they exist in the separate components which when assembled comprise the rug tool body. It will be observed that rug tool body comprises essentially just two members. To assemble, after appropriate internal components are positioned, the upper member comprising the top wall 28, side wall 30 and Wings 34 is secured to the other member, in any conventional manner, with the wings 34 juxtaposed to the wings 40. When fully assembled, the previously described compartmentation is provided.

The rug tool body provides two paths for the flow of air which is induced when the tube 50 is connected to a source of suction. These paths are indicated by the schematic arrows in Fig. 4 and are as follows: one path of air flows in through the nozzle opening 52, into the nozzle chamber 18, through a first passageway 54, which is disposed between the bottom wall 24, the central portion 38 of the intermediate wall 26, and the side wall 43, into the outlet chamber 22 and then to the source of suction. The other path of air flows from the atmosphere through the openings 32 and the opening formed by the cutaway portion 36 into the turbine chamber 20, through the turbine 64, out a second passageway 56 formed by the chute-like depression 44, out the opening 46, into the outlet chamber 22 and then to the source of suction.

Depending centrally from the top wall 28 is the protuberance 58 and the further depending, bearing pin 60, which passes centrally through the opening 42 in the central portion 38 of the intermediate wall 26. Disposed about the bearing pin 60 for rotary motion relative thereto is the turbine hub 62 which rigidly supports at its upper end the turbine 64-. The turbine includes a plurality of vanes 66 and is disposed in the turbine chamber 20. The turbine hub 62 is supported at its lower end by a bearing plate 68 which is supported near the lower end of the bearing pin 60 by the nut 70. The turbine hub 62 has a V-shaped groove 72 formed therein which simulates a pulley surface. The groove 72 receives and supports the endless belt 94 which is also supported in the V-shaped groove 96 formed in the rug brush 98. The rug bnush 98 is mounted in the nozzle chamber 18 in juxtaposition to the nozzle opening 52 in such a manner that its bristle tufting 100 extends through the nozzle opening and is adapted to contact a rug on which the rug tool is operated. The endless belt 94 places the turbine and rug brush in mechanical driving relationship.

The structure described thus far comprises a turbinedriven rug tool which operates on the split air flow principle. As was pointed out in the introduction of this application, such a construction would not be well adapted for use on various types of rugs. As was pointed out, on some rugs, a tight seal is created between the nozzle and the rug and it is diflicult to push the rug tool over the rug, whereas on other types of rugs, no seal is created, and most of the air enters through the nozzle, thereby resulting in less effective turbine operation. It has been found that if the amount of air entering the turbine chamber is increased, in the former situation mentioned, a lesser amount of air will enter the nozzle chamber and this will alleviate the seal at the nozzle. In the latter situation, by restricting the amount of air entering the turbine chamber, more air will pass through the nozzle, and this will facilitate the creation and maintenance of a seal. In either event, applicant found that by controlling the amount of air which is allowed to enter the turbine chamber, the air flow characteristics of the rug tool, i.e., relative air flow through the turbine and nozzle chamber, are regulated, and the basic defect of the prior art is obviated.

In Figs. 1 through 4, means is provided for controlling the amount of air that flows through the turbine chamber, and a manual adjustment is provided which enables a user of the rug tool to adjust the air flow characteristics of the device to the type of rug on which it is used. Secured around the annular portion 101 of the wall 26 which surrounds the central portion 38 are a plurality of spaced, movable, air directing vanes 102, Each vane is generally arcuate and tear-shaped, and has an upwardly extending pin 104 formed near its curved forward end, and a downwardly extending pin 106 formed at its pointed rear end. The downwardly extending pins 106 are received in sockets 108 which are spaced in a circle about the portion 101. Pins 106 are in rotary bearing contact with the walls which form the sockets 108.

Disposed in the turbine chamber 20 is a cam plate 110, which can best be seen in Fig. 2, that has a central opening defined by flange 112. As can be seen in Fig. 4, flange 112 contacts and rotates on the protuberance 58. A plurality of non-radial slots 114 are provided about the periphery of cam plate 110, and an upwardly bent finger 116 having a knob 118 at its upper extremity is formed at one point on said periphery. The cam plate is disposed in the turbine chamber 20 with relation to the vanes 102 in such a manner that each slot 114 slidab-ly receives a pin 104 (see Fig. 4). As will be seen in Figs. 1 and 4, the top wall 28 of the rug tool body has an escutcheon 120 formed at its forward end, which surrounds an arcuate slot 122 formed in the top cover and through which the finger 116 extends. Appropriate indicia may be formed on the escutcheon, and the knob 118 may be manually moved relative thereto to adjust the air flow characteristics of the rug tool.

Rotation of the cam plate 110, which may be effected by grasping the knob 118 and moving it, results in pivoting the vanes 102 about their respective pins 106. This result is caused by the pin and slot connections between the pins 104 and the slots 114, and because of the angular disposition of the slots. Two possible positions that the vanes 102 may occupy are shown in Fig. 3. In the solid line position, the vanes are located in such a manner that they form a passage of appreciable width between each pair of vanes. In the dotted line position, the vanes have been adjusted to the point whereby the passages they form have been considerably reduced in width. Air flows into the turbine chamber through the openings 32, which are wider than the maximum width that the passages formed by the vanes may have, and the front opening formed by cut-away portion 36, and through the passages formed by the portion 101, the vanes 102 and the periphery of cam plate 110. It will, therefore, be observed that rotation of the cam plate 110 results in controlling the amount of air that flows into the turbine chamber. This obtains because the size of the passages controls the amount of air that enters the turbine chamber, and the distance between the vanes determines the size of the passages; therefore, adjusting said distance, by rotating the cam plate 110, controls the mount of air that enters the turbine chamber. It will, therefore, be apparent that the means for controlling the amount of air that flows through the turbine chamber may be manually adjusted to any one of a plurality of intermediate conditions between fully opened condition and fully closed condition to thereby selectively provide any one of a large number of difierent rug tool air flow characteristics.

Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate a modified rug tool wherein the air flow characteristics are regulated by a simplified means for controlling the amount of 'air entering the turbine and.

chamber. The modified rug. tool'has: abody which is generally similar to that of the'Figs; 1- throughi4-form of rug tool, and operates in-aigencrally similar. manner. The only significant difierenceis. thestructure for and manner of controlling'theair flow throughthe turbine chamber. The rug tool bodyv illustrated in the-Figs. 5 and 6 has a plurality of walls which define aturbinechamher 130, a nozzle chamber 132, andIan-outlet: chamber 134. The turbine 136 i is rotatably'mountedinithe turbine chamber and has ahub 138" which. drives'the: rug brush 140 through the endless: belt 142. The turbine chamber communicates with. the atmosphere through a plurality of openings 144, and the nozzle chamberscom- Inunicates with the atmosphere through. an. elongated opening 146. The rug brushiisz disposedladjacent to the nozzle opening and has bristle tufting'141'which isi adapted to contact a rug in a conventional manner.

The foregoing structure and its split air flow operation is similar to'that of the-Figs. l-throu'gh4 form. Instead of the vanes and cam plate air'control means incorporated in the Figs. 1 through 4 form, themodified rug tool is provided with an adjustable valving means located at the outlet end' of' the turbine. chamber. The Figs. 5 and 6 rug tool body includes an intermediate'wa ll 148 which has an opening 150'formed therein that places the turbine chamber I36 into communication with the outlet chamber 134 and the nozzle chamber 132; Air deflector 152, which may be formed in two pieces, as can best be seen in Fig. 6, is secured to the underside of the wall 148 and overlies the opening 150 in such a manner that it directs air from the turbine chamber toward the outlet chamber.

Deflector 152 includes a fiat wall portion 154, and an upwardly extending side wall portion 156, which may be secured to the wall 148 by welding or the like. A portion 158 of the rear of wall portion 154 is cut away and leaves some of the wall portion 154 at each of its sides, which together with side wall portion 156 form elongated generally L-shaped guides 160, which extend rearwardly along the sides of opening 150. The forward side of the cutaway portion 158 is formed by the edge 162 of the wall 154. The valve plate 164, which is almost as wide as the distance between the inner sides of side wall portions 156, is pivotally secured to the edge 162 by the hinge construction 166, which may be any conventional type of hinge construction. At the rearward side of valve plate 164 there is secured a control rod 168 which extends laterally out the side of the rug tool body, through an appropriately formed slot 170, and supports a control knob 172 at its free end. The control rod 168 is flexible and bends during adjustment of the valve plate 164. Adjustment is eifected by moving the control knob 172, thereby causing the valve plate to pivot about its hinge 166, and depositing the control rod in any one of the four lateral niches 174. Each niche 174 corresponds to a different position of the valve plate 164 and the latter deterlnines the amount of opening 150 which is effective, i.e., the amount of the opening which allows air to pass from the turbine chamber to the outlet chamber. Adjustment of the amount of the opening which is effective results in control of the amount of air that can pass from the turbine chamber to the outlet chamber and, hence, the amount of air which passes through the turbine chamber. It will be apparent that the foregoing arrangement provides, in effect, a passage between the turbine chamber and the outlet chamber, and a valving means in the passage that may be manually adjusted to any one of a plurality of intermediate conditions between fully opened condition and fully closed condition for controlling the air flow through the turbine chamber. Such control, as in the case of the first form of the invention, results in regulation of the air flow characteristics of the rug tool and renders the latter adaptable, at the will of the user, to difierent cleaning conditions.

As will-be evident fromthe foregoing description, certain aspects of: my. invention are not-limitedito the particular detailsof the examples illustrated, andlcontemplate that various and otherv modifications-will occur to; those skilledin theart. It is, therefore,.my intentionthati the appended claims shall cover such modifications andapplications-as do not depart from the true spirit and scope of my invention.

The broad concept of regulating-the air flow characteristics of a split air flow, turbine-driven rug tool isnot my invention, but is disclosed and claimedain the appli+ cation of Willi'arn'K. Skolfield (application-Serial Number 567,685, now Patent Number 2,904,816), filed concur rently with this applicationand assigned to theassignee of this application.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by- Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In an air-operated rug tool. att-achmenti for use with a vacuum cleaner air conducting'wand, said rug tooliat+ tachinent comprisinga body having a. turbine chamber disposed near the top of said body which communicates with'the atmosphere and has a turbine rotatablymounted therein, a nozzle chamber disposed near the bottom of said bodywhich communicates with the atmosphere and has a rugbrush rotatably mounted therein, and an outlet chamber which communicates withthe turbine chamber, nozzle chamber and a source- 0f suction, said outlet chamber communicating with said source of suction through said air conducting wand, said turbine being disposed to rotate on a vertical axis and being adapted to rotate said rug brush when said turbine is rotated, whereby on actuation of said source a flow of dust laden air is induced through said nozzle chamber and out said outlet chamber, and a flow of clean air is induced through said turbine chamber and out said outlet chamber, that improvement comprising means for regulating the relative amounts of air that flow through each of said nozzle and turbine chambers, said means comprising mechanism for directly controlling the amount of air that flows through said turbine chamber, said mechanism comprising air flow restricting means which is located wholly within said body, and a manually operable means which is accessible from the exterior of said body for selectively operating said air flow restricting means, said air flow restricting means being adjustable by said manually operable means to any one of a plurality of intermediate conditions between a fully opened condition and a fully closed condition to thereby vary the amount of air flowing through said turbine chamber.

2. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said mechanism comprises passage means that communicates with said turbine chamber, and said air flow restricting means controls the size of said passage means, whereby the size of said passage means may be adjusted to any intermediate size between its fully opened size and its fully closed size.

3. A device as defined in claim 2 wherein said passage means comprises a plurality of passages which are defined in part by said air flow restricting means, wherein said air flow restricting means comprises a plurality of adjustable vanes, and wherein means is provided for adjusting said vanes to thereby alter the size of the passages.

4. A device as defined in claim 3 wherein said adjusting means comprises a slotted cam plate and a pin on each of said vanes which is received in one of the slots in said cam plate.

5. A device as defined in claim 4 wherein said manually adjustable means comprises a portion of said cam plate that extends to the exterior of the rug tool where it is accessible for manual adjustment.

6. An air-operated rug tool attachment for use with a vacuum cleaner air conducting wand comprising a body having a turbine chamber disposed near the top of said body, a nozzle chamber disposed near the bottom of said body ,and an outlet chamber, said body having an outlet tube adapted to be detachably connected to said wand, openings in said body placing said turbine chamber into communication with the atmosphere, a turbine rotatably mounted in said turbine chamber, a nozzle opening in said body placing said nozzle chamber into communication with the atmosphere, a rug brush rotatably mounted in said nozzle chamber adjacent said nozzle opening, said turbine and said rug brush being in mechanical-driving relationship, and valve means in said body for selectively directly controlling the amount of air that enters said turbine chamber, said valve means being manually adjustable to any one of a plurality of conditions whereby the amount of air flowing through the turbine chamber may be selectively varied, and said valve means comprising a plurality of vanes that are disposed in said turbine chamber adjacent said openings and means for adjusting said vanes to alter their positions.

7. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said body includes a passage between said turbine chamber and said outlet chamber, and said control mechanism controls the size of said passage.

8. A device as defined in claim 7 wherein said control mechanism comprises an adjustable valve plate.

9. A device as defined in claim 8 wherein said valve plate is disposed in said passage and is controlled by said manually operable means which is accessible from the exterior of the rug tool body.

10. An air-operated rug tool comprising a body having a turbine chamber, a nozzle chamber and an outlet chamber, openings in said body placing said turbine chamber into communication withthe atmosphere, a turbine r0- tatably mounted in said turbine chamber, a nozzle opening placing said nozzle chamber into communication with the atmosphere, a rug brush rotatably mounted in said nozzle chamber adjacent said nozzle opening, said turbine and said rug brush being in mechanical-driving relationship', an opening in said body placing said turbine chamber into communication with said nozzle chamber and said outlet chamber, a deflector secured in said body and adapted to direct the air leaving said turbine chamber toward said outlet chamber, a valve plate pivotally supported in said body and being adjustable so as to selectively directly control the amount of air flowing through said opening and turbine chamber.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,323,925 Stewart Dec. 2, 1919 2,100,089 Smellie Nov. 23, 1937 2,107,571 Kirby Feb. 8, 1938 2,701,892 Mingus Feb. 15, 1955 2,731,022 Fischer et al. Jan. 17, 1956 2,812,155 Woodrufi Nov. 5, 1957 

